NISER IS WISER: A tough week to be a Boston sports fan

By Ed Niser, eniser@nashobapub.com

Posted:
06/28/2013 07:36:00 AM EDT

Last week was an especially tough one for Boston fans across the four major sports.

First, Aaron Hernandez may be somehow involved with the murder of Oden Lloyd, a semi-pro football player from the Boston area. Next, the Bruins tanked its shot at pushing a game seven by allowing two goals in a span of 17 seconds. As we always say in Boston, "Well there's always next year."

Then the Red Sox dropped three of four in Detroit to the Tigers, which is fine because they still hold a slim lead in the American League East. On Sunday, news broke that Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for a first-round draft pick in the 2015 draft.

Let's start with the Hernandez media circus. If you flicked your television or radio on last week, you probably heard about news helicopters following Hernandez, accompanied by the play-by-play broadcast of his every move. It was almost identical to the chase involving ex Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson in his white bronco, after he was suspected murdering his wife Nicole.

Sure, it is a high profile case if Hernandez was a key player in the homicide, but does that really justify the media camping outside of his house?

Hernandez was pumping gas at a station on his way into Boston and reporters were said to be banging on his windows asking for him to comment, hoping to be the first to break the story.

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What did they expect him to say? He doesn't want to jeopardize his case, whatever it is, by making an unrehearsed statement to a hungry scrum of badgering, camera-wielding journalists.

Lloyd's body was discovered one mile from the Patriots' tight end's home and Hernandez was with Lloyd and two other men on the night he disappeared.

To make things look more suspicious for Hernandez, a cleaning crew was called in to scrub down the superstar's home on Monday and he is said to have smashed his cell phone and broken his security system in the timeframe of Lloyd's disappearance.

Numerous reports from the Associated Press and other media outlets said that Hernandez has had his bouts with the law before, including an incident four years ago, where he was said to have shot a man in the face outside of a Miami nightclub.As it turns out, Hernandez was charged with murder Wednesday afternoon.

When Belichick opted to take Hernandez in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, he saw the upside of the troubled Florida Gators tight end, who continued to slip down other teams' draft boards.

Belichick went out on a limb to sign Hernandez, and it has worked out up to this point. Should we question the so-called "Patriot Way," now that Hernandez is a suspect in a murder investigation? No, but it is fair to say that Patriots fans have a right to be a little more skeptical. This is one of those cases where we have to wait and see how this case turns out. In my outside opinion, I don't foresee Hernandez being in a Patriots uniform come September -- oh wait, that is because the team released him following his arrest Wednesday morning.

Switching back to Rivers and the trade that sent him to the Clippers, the Celtics are in the process of rebuilding and it is understandable why he wants out? But seriously, the Clippers? Sure, the Clippers now have Chris Paul and the over-hyped dunk machine, otherwise known as Blake Griffin.

But are those two pieces enough to bring a high profile coach like Rivers in -- apparently they are. Last Thursday, commissioner David Stern, who is scheduled to retire this summer, vetoed a trade that would have packaged Kevin Garnett and Rivers in a deal to the Clippers. Both the Clippers and the Celtics reevaluated the deal and decided to do an outright trade of Rivers for a 2015 first-round pick. Sure California has the beautiful white sandy beaches, a temperate climate and celebrity fans, but what it lacks is passionate fans. When you share the same building with the storied Lakers franchise, that is to be expected.

Celtics fans stuck behind Rivers through the ups and the downs. Rivers gave generation X Celtics fans an NBA Championship in 2007, something that hadn't been seen since the Larry Bird, Kevin McHale era. Whoever replaces Rivers should brace himself for the critical eye of the fans and Boston media.

As for the Bruins, they had a great season and there is no shame in losing to a class-act team like Chicago.

So cheer up, Boston fans. Tim Tebow is a Patriot, which means everything will work out; the man has some pretty powerful connections, if you catch my drift.

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